A Python script to generate a list of all the UK amateur repeaters for the Yaesu VX-3.

This follows on from my previous script for the Yaesu VX-2.

The VX-3 seems to have some problems talking to VX-Commander. It looks like it’s working, but at the last moment the transfer fails. To be fair, VX-Commander doesn’t claim to work with the VX-3.

So I’ve switched to FTBVX3, which works fine. (Note that it does cost some money, unlike VX-Commander, but it is worth it!)

The script vx3.py takes a repeaters.csv file, and creates a csv file that can be loaded by FTBVX3. It’s then easy to write the file to the VX-3.

I’ve created a very simple Google Map page to indicate the nominal ranges of the following atomic clock transmitters:

• MSF (UK)
• WWVB (USA)
• DCF77 (Germany)
• JJY  おおたかどや山標準電波送信所 (Japan)
• JJY はがね山標準電波送信所 (Japan)
• BPM (China)

The indicated ranges are those given by Casio.

Atomic Sync Range Map

Update: Added BPM China.

I have been reading ebooks on portable devices since I got my first Palm PDA way back in the 1990s. More recently, I have been using O’Reilly’s excellent Safari book service to read a huge number of technical books online whenever I need them.

As great as it is to be able to read books “on demand”, there are some problems with current book readers - and the formating of the ebooks themselves - that make reading them a clumsy business, nothing like the experience with a paper book.

Can we make an ebook reader that makes good use of the technology on which it is built, without causing unnecessary pain?

In this article, I describe the way that I think technical ebooks should work, and discuss some of the markup challenges this entails.

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